Keys to the Corner Office
May 29, 2015
On those rare Sunday mornings when I’m not traveling for one reason or another, my routine is a very early walk during which I purchase the Sunday New York Times.
Reading the Sunday Times has a routine as well: first the Travel section, next Business, then Opinion; and after that, national news and sports and theater in no particular order. And I always read the top of page 2 of the Business section, a regular Q and A by Adam Bryant who features successful businessmen and women. It’s called “Corner Office.”
Week after week, the people profiled will credit the extracurricular activities of their formal education for launching their successful careers. For example ...
- The chief executive of Bluemercury cited volleyball.
- The chief executive of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt cited “clubs and sports in high school.”
- The chief executive of the Hogan Lovells law firm was captain of his high school football team and president of the student council.
Obviously, there are many individuals who participated in those school activities and did not ascend to chief executive status, just as many other CEOs earned the keys to their corner office without participation in school athletics and activities.
But it has been difficult for me to miss how routine it is for the “Corner Office” to make the same connection I do – that outside the classroom school sports and activities are linked both anecdotally and statistically to leadership in later life pursuits.
On Purpose
December 5, 2014
There is a difference between solving problems and creating a future.
Of course, we must solve problems. But it is imperative that we do so in terms of the future we want and are willing to work for.
Therefore, we need to address every day and every decision it presents by thinking how our actions today will make tomorrow different, and how tomorrow’s difference moves us toward the future we envision.
As individual persons, as husbands and wives, as fathers and mothers, as employers and employees, as administrators and coaches and student-athletes, what do we want our future to be like, and how does each decision and action enhance the possibilities for that outcome?
Answering those questions, and acting on those answers ... well, that’s living a purposeful life.